Panasonic was the number-one recommended plasma brand, according to a study from J.D. Power and Market Force Information.
A study by J.D. Power and Associates says that electronics salespeople are more likely to push LCD over plasma.
The results, announced today, say that salespeople choose LCD three to one over plasma technology, when shoppers ask about screens 40 inches and larger. More than 30 percent of those salespeople told customers that LCDs last longer, with 37 percent warning of the outdated dangers of “burn in” on plasma TVs.
“While we see that salespeople are aggressively pushing shoppers to LCD sets, it is important for consumers to understand that plasma technology also offers a number of unique advantages—not the least of which is that inch for inch, plasma sets cost less than LCD sets,” said Larry Wu, senior director of the technology practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “In addition, compared with most LCD sets, plasma TVs also display deeper blacks and show fast-moving objects better.”
While many focused on the problems of plasma, most also didn’t pump up the benefits of LCD. For instance, less than 25 percent mentioned that LCD sets weigh less, use less energy, and produce less heat than plasma sets, says the study. However, the recommendation rate for plasma did increase—from 17 percent in Q1 of 2008 to 23 percent in the second quarter.
“The growing rate of plasma recommendations means that plasma TV technology is not likely to fade away anytime soon—as HD DVD technology did recently in favor of Blu-ray Disc technology,” said Wu.
Wu also says that if a customer doesn’t know which brand they want, they will rely on the salesperson’s opinion. As far as LCD brands, Samsung (35 percent) and Sony (28 percent) were the most recommended. Vizio came up 7 percent of the time, with other brands getting no more than 2 percent of the recommendations. For plasma, Panasonic got the most recommendations, at 37 percent, with Samsung (14 percent) and Pioneer (12 percent) trailing.
Finally, the study said that consumers were likely to get better service at specialty retailers, over big-box stores or other mass merchants. Some of those larger retailers gave good customer service, but didn’t have the know-how to answer basic tech questions.
The report was a joint effort by J.D. Power and Associates and Market Force Information. More than 2,000 mystery shoppers measured the knowledge and recommendations of salespeople nationwide.
The real issue is that plasma sets are less expensive, especially in sizes 50 inches and up. If you sit more than 8 feet away, a 42 inch 1080P won’t look any better than a 720P.
The biggest complaint from consumers is that they did not get the bigggest screen (size), they could afford and that fit into their viewing room.
Even though I am not in the market for a new TV, if I was shopping now, I would get a 65 inch Panasonic plasma. You simply can’t achieve the same picture quality on a 65 inch LCD at this point without spending more than the cost of the 65 inch Panasonic plasma.
it is getting to the point, or at least where I sell, we have the largest best buy in terms of sales volume in the country, that the LCD market is flooded with cheap tv’s. Plasma is an opportunity to tell the customer to just look at the picture and see what is better in a home environment, and they will spend a bit more on a good plasma and I make a little more money.
Stupid article. Do a story on the average customer...."whats the difference between plasma and HD?”......Most good (commission) sales people will do thier jobs, which is find out the customer needs, and sell them a tv that makes you money. Everyone has a job they go to, everyone needs to make money, if a LCD pays more then a Plasma and both would work out great for a customer, sell the LCD.
LCD’s can look better in a bright big-box store, but in a home setting 9 times out of 10 plasma looks better. Burn-in is only a problem on the cheap plasmas. Question? why does LG offer a 1-yr. warranty on LCD, yet a 2-yr. on Plasma, answer, plasma is one of the most reliable technolgies out in the last 10 years. I have been selling TV’s for about 10 yrs. and my personal experience is: almost every rep(except my sony rep) says it is obvious plasma is better, but the market is pushing LCD, and with the exception of sony’s lcd’s have broke on about a 20-1 ratio to plasma, and that is from selling in different towns, big box stores, and custom stores.
Most big box store employees do not have the training to understand which technoloy is better.
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Yeah Curtis, because posting comments about how stupid people are in a discussion… 
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Cheaper and better picture quality, it was a no-brainer for me to get a plasma TV (Panasonic).